Capacitor constructions are utilized in numerous semiconductor devices including, for example, dynamic random access memory (DRAM) devices. Capacitor constructions comprise a pair of conductive nodes separated from one another by dielectric material, and accordingly capacitively coupled with one another. The conductive components of capacitor constructions can comprise numerous materials, including, for example, metals, metal alloys, and conductively-doped semiconductive materials (such as, for example, conductively-doped silicon). There can be advantages to utilizing metals in capacitor constructions, and recently there have been efforts to incorporate various so-called noble metals into capacitor constructions. Exemplary noble metals are platinum, rhodium, iridium and ruthenium.
Various problems are encountered during attempts to incorporate noble metals into capacitor constructions. For instance, it is typically desired that an array of capacitor constructions be simultaneously formed. Ultimately, it is desired to form numerous conductive storage nodes associated with the array. The individual storage nodes are spaced from one another, and can accordingly be considered spaced conductive regions. However, it can be difficult to pattern various metals into spaced conductive regions. For instance, it is found that platinum will smear during various traditional semiconductor fabrication steps (such as, for example, chemical-mechanical polishing). The smearing can inhibit formation of a bottom electrode in a container.
In light of the above-described difficulties, it is desirable to develop new methods of forming spaced conductive regions associated with semiconductor constructions; and it is further desirable that such new methods be suitable for utilization in capacitor fabrication.
It is noted that although the invention was motivated by the problems discussed above, the invention is not to be limited to the applications discussed above except to the extent that the applications are expressly recited in the claims that follow.